A DISABLED man from a small Cumbrian village has been revealed as the bank robber behind two terror raids in Blackpool and Cleveleys last year.

Alan Moore, from Keswick, who sometimes worked with his brother Barry, officially registered as his carer, would leave his walking stick outside the door, pull a fake gun on staff or customers and demand cash.

He is set to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court next Monday after admitting to a string of offences in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

He admitted robbing four banks and building societies, including the Britannia Building Society, Clifton Street, Blackpool and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Cleveleys. Both robberies took place in August 2002. He also admitted four attempted robberies at building societies in Cumbria and Yorkshire and five offences of possessing an imitation firearm. A fake weapon was used in the raids in Blackpool and Cleveleys.

Alan Moore, 47, of Heads Road, Keswick in Cumbria, pleaded guilty at court on June 30. Barry Moore, 49, of the same address, pleaded guilty to one attempted robbery.

The robberies started at the Cumberland Building Society, Keswick, just three days before Christmas 2000. A second robbery at the same building society took place the following April.

They also attempted to rob a Halifax Building Society in Wigton in May, but were arrested after an attempt to rob the Cumberland Building Society in Aspatria, Cumbria in October 2001.

However, after being charged with the offences in Cumbria, the two men skipped bail and headed for Leeds, where two more robberies were carried out on July 31 and August 1 last year, before heading for Blackpool.

After the Britannia Building Society robbery on August 12, a similar raid was carried out in Cleveleys on August 19.

Detective Inspector George Nevins, who lead 'Operation Lash', the Cumbria Police operation which caught the Moore brothers, said after they admitted the offences: "Alan was the most unlikely person to have committed armed robbery, he just did not fit the image most people have of a bank robber.

"Even their motive for the offences remains unclear, all we know is that after the offences they would sometimes go to Manchester and stay in posh hotels, have expensive meals and order champagne."